Not the Same
by Owleye321
Summary: Having been sired by her own doppelganger, Willow rises as a vampire in late season 3. Surrounded by enemies, she must decide who she truly is now, and whether she can survive in Sunnydale or have to flee before the slayer.
1. Chapter 1

"Guys? What are we going to do with… me? Other me."

Willow drew herself quickly back around the corner as her fuzzy self brought the group to stop. She listened silently as the slayer gave some vague reassurances, and her clone timidly backtracked from her worries. So accommodating…

"Oh. Hey! Go, I'll catch up."

The girl's footsteps grew louder as the girl hustled toward the library, but Willow simply shifted into an alcove between the lockers as her double whizzed past, soft hair so much like her own fluttering behind her. Willow smiled hungrily as she stalked forward like a panther, not even her eager anticipation disrupting the silent prowl which death gave her.

Entering behind her, she found her alternate self was leaning over the front desk, stretched out on her toes as she looked for something behind the counter. It was nice to that she still had that amazing body in this world too, even if the shy little girl hid it under those horrible sweaters she used to wear. As her prey pushed off the counter lightly, apparently having not found anything, Willow struck, pressing herself against the girl's fuzzy sweater as she brought a hand over her mouth and held her still.

"Alone at last."

After allowing herself only a quick look at the delicious, exposed neck in front of her, she spun her double around and grabbed her by the throat as the girl struggled feebly.

"Well, look at me. I'm all fuzzy."

"What do I want with you? Dyeh, I mean -"

"Your little school friend Anya said you brought me here. She said you could get me back to my world."

"Oh." The girl's eyes widened with realization at what she had said, and Willow was barely able to keep herself from feeding as her timid double stuttered, "Oh! Oops."

Her double, her twin, was so much like what she was before the transformation, and yet she was certainly different. She had some serious power in her, though she didn't seem to be using it, and Willow had only felt this kind of strength in battles with very powerful mages. The young witch even had friends as well, besides Xander, even if they were all… stupid. Boring.

Willow began slowly circling her nervous, living counterpart, watching her barely maintain her calm under her ragged breaths. How would the girl be different from her once she was turned? Clearly there would still be the same sadistic tendencies she herself had developed with Xander after their transformation, and if he wasn't going to be there for this one, then, well, she was definitely looking forward to helping out her counterpart instead.

Getting behind her timid doppelganger, Willow pressed herself against the girl, enjoying how she squeaked with surprise whenever she did that. Again she wondered how she could have ever hid herself under those baggy, itchy sweaters, even all these years later. She'd have to do something about that.

"But I don't know… I kinda like the two of us. We could be quite a team, if you came around to my way of thinking."

"Would that mean we have to snuggle?"

What a wonderful idea that would be, Willow thought to herself. Grinning with anticipation at that suggestion, she leaned forward and whispered into her ear, "What do you say…?"

Then she went down and gave a long, luscious, lick on her double's exposed neck, feeling the girl's pulse and tasting the fear and… anticipation coming off of her in waves. A violent shudder erupted from her target as she gasped at the sensation, and Willow absolutely loved what she could only imagine was the look on her doppelganger's face. She went back up to the girl's ear and finished seductively, "...wanna be bad?"

"This just can't get anymore disturbing."

Willow smiled at that. Bet it can, she thought to herself as she gave out a low, yet playful growl.

The girl broke before she could get any further though. Shuddering again in her loose grasp, Willow let her double struggle free from her and move a few feet away facing her. Her doppelganger's face was a beautiful as she imagined it would be, twisted in both fear and disgust as she attempted to calm down from her ordeal.

"Ok, Ack! ACK! No more! You're freaking me out."

Giving out one more brief shudder, the girl bolted for the library door, but Willow cut her off with ease, her vampiric reflexes kicking in with full force. The double backed up, panic building in her eyes, then darted over to the counter, grabbing a cross and waving it wildly in front of her. Willow knocked the cursed object out of her grasp and across the library, then threw the increasingly irritating girl in the opposite direction over the counter, where she landed in a heap.

"If you don't want to play I guess I can't force you," she told the battered mess still collapsed on the ground as she made her way slowly around the front desk, "Oh wait. I can."

Reaching the doorway and looking through, she saw that the little girl had managed to get her hands on a rifle and was trying to aim it with unsteady hands. How adorable. Surely she knew that bullets would only hurt her a bit, barely even slow her down really. She did have to kill a slayer after this though… choices, choices.

Seeing her finger reach for the trigger, Willow darted back behind the doorframe, watching as a small dart flickered past her and into a bookshelf. That's cheating, she thought with a sneer. The bitch is going to pay for that.

Moving like lightning across the gap, Willow knocked the rifle aside and threw the girl onto the counter, pinning her down with her own weight. Preparing herself for the kill, she took a moment to observe the look of shock and horror that presented itself on that once familiar face. She would never see that expression again.

"You really shouldn't have done that. You'll know why in a few days."

"Please! No…"

Willow sincerely hoped that wasn't actual begging. That would be just so…

"Bored now!"

Penetrating that delicate neck she'd been observing all night, Willow quickly sucked the delicious warmth out of her doppelganger's body. Cutting her arm with a knife on the table, she brought it up to her double's mouth and moaned as the girl slowly stopped resisting and became addicting to her cold red blood. With a final gasp, the soon to be vampiric Willow collapsed under her, dead, but not gone.

Gently picking up her new playmate, Willow draped her across her arms and slowly made her way out of the library. There was a warehouse on the way to the Bronze where she planned to set up shop after their slaughter. It should be a safe enough place to leave the body for the night. Besides, she had a slayer to kill.

* * *

The gang she had built up to attack the Bronze was turning out to be such a disappointment. Alphonse seemed to be the only one capable of holding his ground against the slayer and her friends that were currently storming the club. Around half her guards were already gone, and the other half were slowly being dusted one by one as they were pushed back. The only real threat among her enemies was the Slayer though, and once she was dead, the rest would flee, even the traitorous vampire. And after all this, she would tame him again, just like in her world.

Passing by the tempting snacks fleeing from the carnage, Willow jumped down from the balcony and landed silently behind the slayer just as she drove a long wooden pool cue through her lieutenant's heart. Just as the blonde began to turn, Willow whipped her leg up and kicked the slayer across the face, knocking her to the ground and sending the pool cue flying. The slayer was back up in an instant, but she was hesitating. Every blow the blonde gave was slightly too slow, and Willow effortlessly weaved through the attacks, striking and hitting the slayer's own weak points between dodges. The stomach, the thigh, both shoulders, and finally the head, all hit with quick and masterfully precision. Ducking under the blonde's high kick, Willow sent her own foot squarely into the slayer's stomach, this time sending her flying across the club and into a table.

"Bored now."

She really was. If she had known that a slayer would have been this easy to beat… The Master should have let her kill this one last time.

"Then let's show you some excitement."

Willow smirked internally as the blonde shot back up onto her feet, grabbed another pool cue off the table, and approached warily. When they were a few feet apart, the slayer quickly closed the distance and struck, wielding the makeshift staff like an extension of her arms. The swings came faster than before, without hesitation, but Willow still dodged them easily. The slayer's extra range made it impossible for her to return the strikes though, and Willow was forced to slowly back up to avoid the blur of wood in front of her. Then she felt it.

The pool cue slammed into the side of her head, sending waves of pain through her body and knocking her off balance. Another jab smashed into her nose, snapping her neck back as she stumbled backwards, and a final blow hit her in the chest, right above the heart, and sent her flying back against the wall.

With a small moan of exertion, Willow brought her head upright and opened her eyes, the blonde slayer moving straight for her with a murderous glare. Then Willow realized with a shock that she wasn't dust yet. The tip must have been too dull to…

The pool cue flashed forward, the pointer end in front this time, aimed once again straight at her heart. Willow quickly slid to the side as the wood impacted the wall where she was a moment ago, then brought her leg up and snapped it in half. Bouncing back on her feet, Willow slammed her fist into the slayer's face in the same movement, sending the blonde staggering backwards, blood oozing from her nose. After a moment's pause, the two were back at it, fighting at the same intensity even if they were both now moving slightly slower. Willow once again weaved through the slayer's strikes, not getting hit but wary to return any blows now that her opponent was wielding her half of the pool cue as a stake. Deciding that she couldn't finish off the slayer in time, Willow's eyes darted for a possible exit between dodges, but as she moved to get away, a hand seized her throat with an iron vice. Willow lashed out with all her strength, but nothing was able to deter the slayer as she brought her stake up for the kill.

"Buffy, no!"

The slayer's grip lessened for just a moment. That'll work, Willow judged as she brought her leg up and slammed it into the girl's head, causing them both to drop to the floor in a heap. Looking around and seeing that her troops were dead and she was surrounded, Willow darted forward and snatched Xander out from the group, placing him in a choke hold as she placed him between her and the slayer. Even when he's alive my Xander still finds a way to save me, Willow thought darkly. Atleast he won't be alive much longer.

Suddenly there was a sharp sensation from behind, not exactly pain, but Willow still felt the blunt stake that penetrated her back and tapped her heart. Eyes wide, she saw the slayer and all her friends staring at her, her failure. She turned slightly to look back and she saw the older white hat staring back with a blank look as everything went black.

* * *

If anyone decides to review this (which I would love by the way) could they please give me a critique on the fighting scene? It's my first time writing one but a lot of my projects will include them so I thought this would be some good practice. I also really enjoyed writing out the scene from the show, so there may be more of that as well.

I don't own of this either,

IoftheOwl


	2. Chapter 2

Willow sat down on the hard, uncomfortable library chair and gazed through the bars at the prone figure inside. It was her, or at least it looked like her, it was even wearing the same pink sweater that she was. Willow turned to say something to the group about her doppelganger, but then she remembered that they had left. Why had they left again? Everything was so hazy, it was like she had forgotten something important, but everytime she tried to concentrate she got a massive headache. A crash of metal echoing behind her brought her back to her senses, but when she turned back to check there was nothing there. The cage was empty, just as it was before.

No, that's not right. There was something in the cage, was that what was so important? Willow got up slowly and walked toward the open door, looking around carefully for what had happened to the thing that used to be in there. Giles was going to kill her when he found out she had lost it. Where was he anyways?

Not even a moment after she had crossed the cage's threshold, Willow felt a hard shove from behind, and the door clattered shut as she fell into a sprawling heap on the floor. She whipped her head around to glare at the perpetrator, but froze as she saw herself staring back. The double was staring inquisitively at her, no malice in its expression, but not a hint of comprehension either.

"You look like me," it spoke softly, "why is that?"

"No, I look like me! I mean, you look me, I look like myself, and you… what are you exactly?"

"I don't know." Her twin across the bars stared at her unflinching as they gazed at each other, then a hint of a smile broke on her face. She snorted softly, then started giggling quietly, yet uncontrollably to herself, as if some great cosmic entity had told a joke only she could hear.

"What? Why are you laughing?" Willow asked forcefully as she got up and began to approach the door. Her foot caught on a chair leg though and she tripped, losing her composure completely as she clung to the bars for balance. "Is it me? What did I do?"

"Oh nothing," her double said, a cruel glint entering her eyes, "I just remembered this time when I was ten and Xander and I were on the playground, and… ah, nevermind, somehow I don't think you're going to remember that anyways."

"Xander! What did you do with him? Where is everyone? Where's B-... B-... B-..."

"Buffy? I don't think she's coming Will." The doppelganger knelt down to meet her at eye level, but Willow couldn't keep eye contact anymore, she just couldn't stop gasping for breath, no matter how much she tried. With a mild numbness she felt her double grab the sides of her head and yank it into the bars, as if wanting to analyze something curious on her forehead. Just as suddenly Willow felt herself tossed back onto the ground, and the other Willow stood back up and laughed at her again.

"Oh, I see now! You're the soul and I'm… well, I'm the replacement."

"I don't understand! What's going on?"

"Really? You don't understand? Then let me explain; I - I mean we - are now a vampire."

"Whoah! I am not a vampire! I would have felt… urges, and stuff. Which I don't have!"

"Maybe using the plural was a bit of an exaggeration. But it doesn't matter. You're fading and soon you'll be gone forever. How about a progress report: do you remember who Giles is?"

The name sounded so familiar, like stern britishness and fatherly love put together, but Willow couldn't put a face on it. Her eyes widened as name after name passed her by; Xander, Buffy, Cordelia, Jessie; but none of them brought anything but more vague senses of familiarity. Mouth agape, her face fell into a blank, dead stare as she gazed at the woman on the other side of the bars.

"Where am I?"

The red headed woman looked at her inquisitively, a touch of sadness on her features, then smiled widely, laughing softly to herself as she walked away from the cage and disappeared past the bookshelves as the entire place began crumbling down around them.

* * *

Willow shot up into a sitting position, her gaze darting across the dull, empty warehouse she had been sleeping in. It took her a moment to realize she wasn't breathing. There was no noise coming from her, no subtle beats of the heart or whispers of a breath, just the quietness of the warehouse and the distant sounds of bustling activity outside that Willow was sure she could never had heard before. Pain lanced through her stomach as she stood and leaned precariously against the wall, trying to get her bearings.

Damn, she was hungry right now.

She could practically taste the blood coming from- well, just past the door on the opposite side of the room. It was almost shocking how naturally she could pinpoint how close and from what direction the scent was coming from. Walking over and opening the door, she found a dead woman lying at her feet, partially drained and smelling like she had been that way for around three days. Willow rolled her eyes in disappointment at the scraps and made her way over to the glass double doors leading out to an abandoned lot, pushing them open to revel in the cool night air whisping around her.

It was too much though, and she gasped as her senses assailed her from all sides. The dim bustling from within the warehouse had become an unrelenting torrent of sound, so loud yet still so distant, while each gust of wind brought in a new smell from another direction. Her eyes twitched back and forth across the abandoned concrete expanse as she tried to trace the disturbances through the currents of air, but a sharp pain in her stomach sent her keeling over again.

"Hey! You're not allowed to be here!"

The man was approximately ten feet in front of her. He was older, probably in his mid-fourties, tall and with broad shoulders, but he did not strike her as at all threatening or imposing. He seemed rather small, in fact. Once there was only one thing for her to focus her attention on, Willow found that her senses no longer confused her, and everything was easy to pinpoint; how fast his breathing was, how fast his heart was beating, how fresh the wound on his hand was…

"I was attacked," Willow lied, "I don't know I got here and- ow, I can barely walk and- OW!"

The man gasped as he saw her bend over in pain again, clearly buying the ploy as he gently approached her, muttering reassurances about how everything would be alright. The moment he touched her shoulder, Willow struck, her instincts faster than she could even comprehend as she darted behind her prey and pulled it into a headlock, exposing the pulse in its muscular neck. She breathed in the fear and sweat coming off his tanned skin in waves, its scent intoxicating, then pressed her fangs into the pulse.

The feeding only lasted for a few seconds, but the ecstasy of the moment made it feel much longer. Willow coughed as she suddenly hit air, having drained the entire body, and pushed the man away from her as his corpse collapsed to the floor. Satiated, and with a clear head again, Willow leaned back against the wall and took a moment to think.

"Oh shit!"

The slayer was going to kill her. There was no way that Buffy was going to let her run around with this body, and when the slayer found out that she had been turned, she would hunt her down. She needed to get out of town quickly, before Buffy found out about this, but running now could cause the slayer to chase her forever, and Willow definitely couldn't have that. The important question now was to convince the slayer that she was either truly dead or had left voluntarily without having been turned.

Willow strolled out of the warehouse district deep in thought, determined to find a solution, as she made her way toward the light and sounds of the Sunnydale.

* * *

The house in front of her was very familiar to her, as it should have been, since it had been her home for almost eighteen years, and yet it seemed so very unfamiliar to her now. Willow guessed that this was the lack of any sort of nostalgia, being that she no longer had a soul anymore. She had told herself on the long, boring walk over that she was just going to sneak in and steal some better clothes, without her parents ever seeing her, but then she'd had an idea, one that might solve all of her problems. Smirking at the thought of it, Willow bounded up the steps and knocked on the door.

The woman who answered the door was her mother, the key word being was. She had been never a very good parent, so demanding and yet completely absent, everything she had despised as a human. She was going to enjoy this.

"Willow! Where have you been?! You've been missing for over a day, we haven't heard anything from you at all since we got back, and you better have a damn good reason or-"

"Actually mother," Willow cut in, "I've been gone for about three days. Wonder why it took you so long to notice?" Willow flashed her a bright, innocent smile and waited for the hammer to drop.

"You get inside this instant and go to your room! Once I get-"

As soon as she'd heard the magic words, Willow put on her game face and threw the small woman onto the staircase. Leaping after her, Willow landed lightly on the steps, delivering a swift blow to her face to cut off her screams, then held the woman's head gently in her hands, watching her eyes sway back and forth as blood flowed from her broken nose. With a sneer Willow snapped her neck, breaking their gaze and leaving her deceased mother to roll down the stairs as the vampire continued upward.

Her father, who was upstairs watching the news as usual at this time, completely failed to hear or acknowledge the commotion downstairs. Willow stalked up behind him through the open door and stood inches away, staring blankly ahead. Did most vampires kill their birth parents after they were sired? She seemed to recall Angelus mentioning that he had done this, but she couldn't remember it being referenced with any frequency in her books. Of course, Angelus had done that because he was evil and vengeful, while Willow was doing this so she could be free from her controlling parents, her controlling friends, her controlling past, and this was the way to get it done. Sure, her parents were terrible, Willow reflected bitterly, but this wasn't about them, and she wouldn't be doing this unless it was necessary.

I really need to get my hands one those watcher diaries again, Willow thought. None of the vampires she'd read about were so morally philosophical about why they did things.

The small red headed vampire reached up and snapped her father's neck, letting his limp corpse broken fall to the floor before walking out of the room with a small smile.

* * *

A mess of clothes were scattered across Willow's old room as she searched for something else to wear. She'd need more after she left but a quick inventory of what she had made redhead decide that she could raid some shops once she got out of town. There was no need to attract attention to herself before she left, but wow, did she not like her options. She had never wanted to dress up like Cordelia or even Buffy, but she hadn't realized just how much she had been wearing what her mother had wanted her to choose. Even when her parents left on those long trips, Willow had continued to go along with it because that had been what her friends and schoolmates had expected of her. After all, just look at how they'd reacted to seeing the vampiric Willow earlier.

Well, the other vampiric Willow. The one that was probably dead now, or whatever you call a dusted vampire. And Willow was most certainly not going to lean toward her fashion choices, as they were preposterously attention seeking, and Willow didn't need that even if she hadn't gotten over her deeply suppressed desire for that kind of attention years ago.

Looking over her choices again with a long sigh, the redhead decided to go with the one of the outfits she had bought with Buffy, though it was likely that the slayer never expected her to wear it. Heading into the bathroom, the redhead did a double take at the empty mirror in front of her, laughing quietly at the novelty of not seeing her reflection. She'd just have to assume the clothes fit well, they certainly felt like they did, but she'd never actually tried them on with Buffy because she'd felt uncomfortable with the whole thing at the time.

Walking back into her room, Willow knew it was time for the next step of her plan, before the sun began to rise again. She sat on the bed and calmed herself down, her nerves fraying at the anticipation at the gambit she was attempting to pull. Willow wasn't sure she could pull off faking sadness at the moment, but she had to try if she was going to make this work. Steeling herself for the worst potentially happening, the excited redhead picked up the phone beside her and dialled a number.

Maybe she'll believe emotional numbness better than sadness though, Willow thought as she started the call.

The phone rang twice before Buffy's drowsy voice came through the line.

"Hello?"

Willow froze as she heard her former best friend's voice over the line. The flood of self doubt at this moment wasn't what she'd expected, and she really should have prepared more before jumping into this. Sadness or numbness? Which would the slayer believe more?

"B-Buffy," Willow choked suddenly, not wanting to change her mind again, "I n-need h-"

"Willow?" Buffy answered back with a quiet hopefulness, "Oh my god, are you ok? Nobody's heard from you since the incident, we were all worried that something had-"

"Buffy! I need you to come over. I- I think she murdered my parents."

* * *

Do you ever write something you really like, put it down for a week or two, and can't seem to get back into a character's head? That's what I felt when I wrote this. I seem to have difficulty writing with a consistent voice, even on the same day, and I don't really know why. I'll try to work on it. If you have any suggestions or just want to write a review, it'll be greatly appreciated.

I don't own of this either,

IoftheOwl


End file.
